Painting Abstracts – The Process Behind the Art

Every artist obviously has different ways to create art. Techniques, feelings, emotions & experience all play a role in the finished product. Painting Abstract or Modern Art is just plain fun.

I’m not the type of artist who will take a walk and get instantly inspired by something I see. For me, it’s more the mood I’m in and the emotions I feel when I’m in front of the canvas.

“The beauty of abstract art is that I never know what I’m going to paint until I actually paint it.” ~Matt Leblanc

My inspiration comes from:

colors,

emotions

music

Music’s rhythm and tempo have a big influence on my work. I love big canvases and I love to paint with big brushes. I’m not the best at painting small details so that’s probably why I don’t paint portraits. I find that music can influence the quality and speed with which I apply my large paintbrush or palette knife to the canvas. How I apply the acrylic paint will be reflected in the end result.

When creating an abstract painting, I think about three elements which are the basis of all my artwork:

shapes

forms

colors

For some reason, I’m a big fan of “lines”. I have many line patterns in my artwork. It might come from my love of geometry. I love shapes and forms and how objects are created. I try to bring some squares, circles, lines and other shapes to my work without letting them affect the overall abstract style. At the end of the day, abstract is considered apart from concrete existence so very often I hide those elements inside my work.

The choice of colors is an important part of my process. I always aim for color harmony. Color harmony basically creates balance and engages the viewer by creating a sense of order.

I like things that flow together and not things that shock the viewer. For some people, including many abstract artists, the most important issue in art is that it expresses or stirs emotions. I like to keep those emotions positive. I’m a really positive person to begin with so my art really reflects my personality.

A lot of artists try to shock viewers by playing with colors to break the traditional harmony. I really have a hard time with those techniques. To me, art should be pleasing and comforting.

If you don’t have a color harmony, it will create chaos and who wants more chaos in their lives?

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Guest artist/author: Matt LeBlanc lives and works in the city of Dieppe, New Brunswick, Canada. When it comes to painting, Matt loves movement and color. All of Matt’s paintings have rich textures, as he mostly uses heavy body paint. His art fuses design, color, and proportion to harmonize with each client’s decor. To learn more about Matt, visit his exciting website – http: //www.mattleblancart.com

We are lucky to have this exciting young artist share his personal inspirations behind the Abstract Art he creates. Thanks for sharing, Matt! ~Lori 🙂

[…] article was written for FineArtTips.com which is run by the great artist Lori […]

Karl May 22, 2011 at 12:56 pm

Hi Lori, May i first say how much i enjoy your work and reading your articles. Could you please advice me of what basic materials i would need to start out painting abstract? I’m particularly interested in painting oil on canvas becuase i think oil gives abstract art more depth. Thanks Karl.